My fiance and I have been going on day trips all over the state and surrounding areas to visit historic towns from the 19th century. It's been an awesome experience so far, and a great history lesson. Yesterday's trip was by far the best. We went to Trempealeau, Perrot State Park (awesome view of the Mississippi River from the bluffs), then traveled all the way down Hwy 35 along the river through tiny little towns to Prairie du Chien. We crossed over into Iowa to visit Marquette and McGregor.

I highly recommend the Prairie du Chien/Marquette/McGregor area, to Ann/Meade and all of the commenters here. It's an area rich in natural beauty and incredible history.

Anyone have recommendations for some other historic towns we could visit?

I don't think that my tax payer money should go to rebuild a place like Joplin, Mo. if people are deliberately and knowingly living in tornado alley. That's what you have insurance for and I'm tired of paying for your misfortunes. I feel for you people, but if you continuously put yourselves in dangerous places to live, why should I be involved in helping you constantly rebuild? I realize this sounds callous and cruel, but bulldoze what's left, abandon it, and that's it. Same thing with New Orleans. If it happens to that place again, the fed should effectively not fund a rebuild project. Same for Detroit or anywhere else. It shouldn't be their role.

There's pretty much no place on the North American continent that's free of destructive natural disasters, though. If it's not tornados it's earthquakes, if it's not earthquakes it's riverine floods, if it's not flooding it's blizzards or tsunamis or God knows what.

There's pretty much no place on the North American continent that's free of destructive natural disasters, though. If it's not tornados it's earthquakes, if it's not earthquakes it's riverine floods, if it's not flooding it's blizzards or tsunamis or God knows what.

That's the larger, broader point. I know I live in Ca. where earthquakes are our particular forte on the disaster chart, so if a major quake hits my city and my house become a causality, should I expect the government to come to my rescue? Nope. That's what insurance is for or at least, let the states deal with it, not the fed.

Midnight Saturday, about 27 hours ago, I was in a car on Miami's MacArthur Causeway (#395 East). We were headed to South Beach... to see the crowds, the girls, and hopefully to consume a few slices of Diego's fairly-famous "Italian" pizza.

But the causeway was jam-packed, crawling, a million young party goers sitting in hot-wheeled cars, their taillights trailing red to the SoBe horizon, the island music bouncing their Mazda's and Honda's and VW's to the beat of the midnight pavement.

We’re in the middle of Miami's astounding version of midnight madness, two middle-age men going a long way to see beautiful girls and eat Cuban pizza. And it was ten years ago when we did exactly the same thing, and happy now to be doing it again.

But my, have things changed! The huge, ultra-modern buildings now looming directly over the highway as we leave downtown Miami, elevated trams weaving in and out and around corners - people, residents, 30-40 stories up smiling down from their sky-scraper balconies at the mob of traffic inching past like a great, colorful caravan - us, gypsies in glittering wagons, peasant girls waving from the windows, two old men mesmerized by the atomic atmosphere.

And not just the people, but the lights, the technicolor water gently flowing on either side, the city glowing in the night like some modernistic metropolis from a dreamy, Utopian planet.

But in the end we never made it across the causeway. It's a wonder South Beach didn't just sink into the ocean from all the traffic as far as the eye could see. We made a U-turn, turned around, waved good-bye to all the beautiful girls, and took a rain-check for Diego's. Because ten years ago he served us the greatest pizza in the known world, and we promised to return. Maybe next week, or the week after, but soon. Before we're too old to drive the hundred miles for a slice authentic, SoBe pizza, made with mysterious and wonderful ingredients imported from a galaxy far, far away.

Thanks for the recommendations! We were actually in Bayfield last summer, but we didn't get to do the island tour then, and I really want to do that at some point. And Kohler Andrae looks really nice--we'll definitely make a stop there this summer!

It might be too late now, but a drive down the Mississippi river, starting at Hastings, MN during the early spring, where you can see the rock formations before the trees leaf out. Take that as far south as you want, even into Iowa, then cross the Mississippi river and then go north on the other side of the river through WI, I donethat a couple of times, when the river was starting to flood in the springtime. Lots to see.

Oh, Fidel, forget the romance, South Beach is a “war zone.” Watch and listen to the 2-minute video, panic and gunfire amid the art deco. No doubt someone stole someone's girl. Like the bitch was kidnapped. Shoot to kill.

@AllenS: Thanks for that suggestion! We haven't done anything on the MN side of the Mississippi yet, so we'll add it to our list of places to visit. We loved the Hwy 35 drive so much that we actually want to go back before the summer is over! This part of the state really is beautiful.

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